Inter Miami to open first season on the road against this daunting opponent
Inter Miami will open its inaugural season on March 1, 2020, with a high-profile road game against Los Angeles FC, the team that won the 2019 Supporters’ Shield for the best regular-season record. The game will kick off at 5:30 p.m. at Banc of California Stadium.
The game is expected to be televised nationally. It will be a homecoming for Inter Miami midfielder Lee Nguyen, who played for LAFC the past two seasons. LAFC had a 21-4-9 record last season and tied the league record with 85 goals. They also broke the record for greatest goal differential at plus-48. Carlos Vela broke the MLS single-season scoring record with 34 goals.
“I knew I’d have to face LAFC at some point next season, but for it to be the very first game and go back so soon is pretty cool,” Nguyen said from Honolulu, where he is on vacation. “I’m sure I’ll feel joy, but it will also be a little bittersweet to play in front of those fans, who were so great, and against my old teammates.”
Nguyen knows better than anyone the type of challenge LAFC will present.
“It’s probably the hardest opening game you can get,” he said. “They won the Supporters Shield, broke almost every record in MLS, they will be at home. It will be a tough test for sure. But I am fully confident we’ll be ready. You can tell the owners in Miami have big aspirations, want to win trophies, and will make sure we are a big, big club in Year One and for years to come.”
Miami will begin the season with two road games before playing its home opener on March 14 at 2:30 p.m. against the Los Angeles Galaxy, former team of Inter Miami co-owner David Beckham. Home games in 2020 and 2021 will be played at the team’s new 19,000-seat stadium and soccer complex in Fort Lauderdale.
The full schedule for the 2020 MLS season will be released in a few weeks. Each team will play 34 games, including 17 at home and 17 on the road. Inter Miami will be in the Eastern Conference and will play home and away against its 12 conference rivals: Atlanta, Chicago, Columbus, D.C., Cincinnati, Montreal, New England, NYCFC, NY Red Bulls, Orlando, Philadelphia and Toronto.
They will play 10 of the 13 Western teams once. The 13 West teams are: Colorado, Dallas, Houston, LAFC, L.A. Galaxy, Minnesota, Nashville, Portland, Real Salt Lake, San Jose, Seattle, Kansas City, Vancouver.
Limited season tickets are available at intermiami.com/tickets
This story was originally published December 5, 2019 at 12:22 PM.